The field of education is awash with research. What is important for teachers however, is accessing the right research, in the right way, at the right time. This article presents an innovative way forward for teachers who want to develop evidence-informed practice and for those who want to be engage further with research. Teachers need to easily access research in order to enhance their professional practice. But why aren’t policy and practice in the education profession underpinned by an agreed body of research-based evidence? The answer is possibly that teaching and learning are among the most complex of all human activities (Edwards, 2011, p.135), and not the lack of original, rigorous and significant research work across the discipline of education. Questions then arise about how teachers should respond to the issue of research and developing evidence-informed practice - see Campbell 2016, in Education Today last edition, who outlines approaches to connecting research, practice and professional knowledge, and evolving knowledge mobilization in the profession. This article continues the discussion set out by Campbell (2016) and outlines how the Education Futures Collaboration charity has developed the MESH project (Mapping Educational Specialist knowHow) in order to address the issue of providing easy access to research, to help develop evidence-based practice, through a website of quality assured research summaries and an online professional network for collaboration for teachers to connect to share and critique research.
In the UK, building and making accessible a reliable database of evidence-based research has strengthened policy and practice in the medical and health professions through such collaborations as the Map of Medical Health guides1 and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)2. Improving education systems in a similar way though has proved to be an elusive goal, both in the UK and across other countries. In its 2009 report, the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) calls for the creation of knowledge-rich, evidence-based systems to empower educational leaders and teachers with the knowledge needed to transform models of schooling (OECD, 2009).
The education sector has within it the knowledge needed to improve the education of all pupils, but this knowledge is held in isolated pockets and is not yet accessible to all teachers in developing or developed countries (Leask and Younie, 2011). Connection, co-ordination and curation by a national body are needed, coupled with networking of knowledge holders, teachers, researchers, educators and funders to share and build knowledge for the profession.
The goal therefore is to share research knowledge that informs professional practice. This provides a robust knowledge management approach to the field of education. The use of knowledge management principles is well known in other sectors (Tiwana, 2000; Davenport and Prusak, 2000)- public and private- and now needs to be robustly developed in the education sector. The OECD has previously highlighted that knowledge management is seriously under-developed in the field of education (OECD, 2000; 2004; 2007; 2009).
Developing translational research in education
We start with explaining the concept of translational research, which is a systematic approach to the practical application of research knowledge. We have followed this approach in the development of the MESHGuides project, which provides up to date research summaries for teachers. These summaries are written, peer reviewed and quality assured by teachers and researchers working in collaboration to develop an evidence-base for the profession, which is easily accessible and digestible. This approach is informed by initiatives adopted in the field of medicine.
Translational research can be described as a systematic approach to turn research knowledge into practical applications (Wethingtonand Dunifon, 2012). Translational research provides a bridge between researchers and practitioners. To this end, a new kind of publishing has been developed in the form of knowledge maps (called MESHGuides), which translate the findings of educational research into practical outcomes. MESH stands for Mapping Educational Specialist knowHow; examples can be seen at www. MESHGuides.org. New software is being developed similar to the successful Map of Medicine Healthguides created by health professionals to train new doctors.